Merida to Uxmal

Merida was far behind and we were cycling towards Uxmal – one of the two biggest Mayan archeological sites here in Yucatan peninsula. We rode 70 km that day until we came to Muna. It’s fairly big with a park full of birds (hundreds of them) right in the middle of the town. One of Nadya’s pedals literally fell apart and was holding together by one screw only, so we got a new pair and changed them right outside the shop. We slept at Palacio Municipal again but due to its size there are some offices that open at 7 and don’t close until after 10, which prevented us from setting up our usual sleeping arrangement until very late. Both of us feel that we’re in some kind of cycling crisis. Riding has become incredibly difficult and every kilometer feels like two.

25/11

We had a natural alarm clock at 5:30 – the birds singing their morning songs. It was amazing but for the tiredness. By 7:30 we were lagging up the steepest hill we’ve come across so far and were cursing the bicycles, Mexico, hills and everything else. Uxmal is only 17 km away from Muna but it took us more than hour and a half to get there.

Uxmal is really big and it’s well worth visiting.

Uxmal

The pyramids are much bigger than let’s say those at Ek ‘Balam. They look awesome in the midday Sun. There’s loads of Iguanas there.

Feeding Iguanas

I guess we were lucky because we found a big one which wasn’t scared of us and eventually ate some banana peel straight out of my hand. Also, if you ever visit this place watch out for the bats.

hundreds of little bats

In order to see them you need a flashlight because they are hiding in holes inside the pyramids. After about two hours of walking around, our stomachs announced themselves and we quickly headed to a nearby restaurant. After lunch we rode anther 30 km to Opichen – a small town on the way to Campeche. Altogether it makes 57 km but it felt like 200, really. We had some beer and were sleeping before 7. I hadn’t been so exhausted for years. The Palacio Municipal is probably the best one of all we’ve seen. There are two floors and we had the whole second one to ourselves with a view of an old church and the park.